All of the 36,681 communes of France have a paid mayor earning at least 646€ a month.  French communes can be extremely small. Castelmoron-d’Albret in Aquitaine is the smallest with just 3.54 hectares (8.75 acres). It has less than 100 inhabitants. Yet, it has a paid mayor, a mayor’s secretary and a town hall which is open every Wednesday afternoon for 4 hours between 14h – 18h. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a deputy mayor too and a town council. The smallest local council in the UK is in West Somerset which has 34,222 people to look after. The average number of inhabitants per commune in France is less than 2,000.